11 Guys Quartet – 11 x 11
VizzTone Label Group VT-11412
11 songs – 31 minutes
Friends and bandmates from the Boston music scene since the ‘70s, the oddly named 11 Guys Quartet delivered a pleasing all-instrumental album, Small Blues and Grooves, in 2020 after a 35-year break from the recording studio. And they return in style – and add a couple of vocals, too – with this rock-solid collection of tradition but contemporary tunes.
The band’s fronted by Paul Lenart, a self-taught guitarist/vocalist who spent his youth playing Balkan music in the Duquesne University Tamburitzan Orchestra in his native Pittsburgh before becoming a key component of Beantown’s Bosstown Sound, hitting the road as a member of Big Mama Thornton and T-Bone Walker’s bands as part of the American Folk Blues Festival tours in Europe and becoming a member of the James Montgomery Band along with 11 Guys bassist Bill “Coach” Mather.
Bassist/vocalist Chuck Purro is a Berklee College of Music grad who was a member of Massachusetts’ Colwell-Winfield Blues Band in the ‘60s and spent time as a member of Van Morrison’s band just prior to the release of the Moonchild album. And harp player Richard Rosenblatt is another industry veteran who began life as a road dog with several Boston ensembles before founding both the long-running Tone-Cool label and joining Bob Margolin in the creation of VizzTone Label Group.
They hit the ground running on this one with “Lightning Road,” a driving instrumental shuffle propelled by Lenart on slide and Rosy on reeds and exhibiting the tightness only achievable by a band of brothers who’ve played together for decades. It flows smoothly into “Black Cat Bone,” which features Rosenblatt on a blistering lead throughout atop a powerfully lush arrangement, before things slow down for the minor-key “Blues Beyond Midnight,” a number that gives Paul plenty of space to work out on the strings.
The rapid-fire, supercharged blues-rocker, “Drivin’ a Fast Car,” featuring Purro on the mic is next, propelled by Rosy’s repeating harp run. The rhythm section shines on “Texicali Mojo,” laying down a skintight, syncopated beat before the stop-time “Stompin’ Blues” keeps the action flowing strong and Paul doubles on guitar lead and mic for “He Ain’t Got You,” which describes a “bit deranged” old guy who’s got a private chef and butler, too, but has no claim to the woman he desires.
Four more sprightly instrumentals bring the album to a finish. “Jokers Blues” features plenty of guitar-harp interplay before the slow-and-steady “Possum Blues” takes listeners on a languorous musical journey. Then “The Rona Stomp” puts a positive spin on the coronavirus epidemic before the band’s “Rockin’ the Blues” to close.
11 Guys Quartet will keep you bopping along with this one. It’s a whole lot of fun.
